id stringlengths 3 7 | context stringlengths 1.04k 39.6k | question stringlengths 11 173 | answer_start int64 1 31.4k | answer_text stringlengths 16 8.15k | similarity_q2c_score float32 0.15 0.84 | similarity_q2a_score float32 0.25 0.86 | average_similarity_score float32 0.21 0.82 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
438_0 | Facebook is finalising plans to launch its own crypto-currency next year. It is planning to set up a digital payments system in about a dozen countries by the first quarter of 2020. The social media giant wants to start testing its crypto-currency, which has been referred to internally as GlobalCoin, by the end of this... | How will Facebook's crypto-currency work? | 867 | Facebook wants to create a digital currency that provides affordable and secure ways of making payments, regardless of whether users have a bank account. The social networking site, which owns WhatsApp and Instagram, is hoping to disrupt existing networks by breaking down financial barriers, competing with banks and re... | 0.817023 | 0.81918 | 0.818101 |
6458_2 | President Donald Trump says he plans to end "birthright citizenship" in the US by executive order. Can he do that? In an interview with Axios, President Trump claimed that he was working on an end to birthright citizenship, the 150-year-old principle that says anyone born on US soil is an American citizen. "It was alwa... | Can Trump end birthright citizenship by executive order? | 3,094 | Most legal scholars agree that President Trump cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order. "He's doing something that's going to upset a lot of people, but ultimately this will be decided by the courts," says Saikrishna Prakash, a constitutional expert and University of Virginia Law School professor. "Th... | 0.816725 | 0.794364 | 0.805544 |
7116_3 | Seven months and nine days ago, 1.4 million people in Ireland voted to remove its anti-abortion laws. What (Taoiseach) Irish PM Leo Varadkar called a "quiet revolution", had culminated with a day when the Eighth Amendment was repealed. Irish Health Minister Simon Harris hailed the passing of the legislation as a "new e... | Can you access abortion services in all of Ireland's maternity units? | 1,453 | Not yet. Ireland has 19 maternity units, but only nine are currently providing abortion services. These are: - National Maternity Hospital in Dublin - Midland Regional Hospital in Westmeath - Rotunda Hospital in Dublin - Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Meath - University Hospital, Galway - Mayo University Hospital - Un... | 0.784241 | 0.82297 | 0.803605 |
5115_0 | The drug-resistant fungus, Candida auris, was only discovered 10 years ago, but is now one of the world's most feared hospital microbes. There have been outbreaks across the world, and new research shows higher temperatures may have led to an increase in infections. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CD... | What is Candida auris? | 462 | Candida auris (C. auris) is a yeast, a type of fungus, which can cause infections in humans. It is related to the very common Candida albicans, which causes thrush. It was first discovered in the ear canal of a Japanese patient in Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital in 2009. Most of the time, Candida yeasts live on o... | 0.755406 | 0.848326 | 0.801866 |
8669_0 | The demand for on-demand TV has never been higher. Disney has announced its rival to the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime - and they're calling it Disney+. In March, Apple announced its own streaming service: Apple TV+. But in a market that's getting more and more crowded, can they all survive? Disney has a big advant... | Why are Disney and Apple getting into streaming TV? | 297 | Disney has a big advantage because it has decades of filmmaking experience already, according to Shona Ghosh, senior tech reporter at Business Insider. "It costs a lot of money to make popular shows and Disney is an expert in offering really well-known film and TV franchises," she says. Disney can draw on its classic m... | 0.815088 | 0.787178 | 0.801133 |
4406_0 | Cheap steel from China has been blamed for distorting global markets and putting other countries' steelmakers under pressure. How have we got here and why does it all matter? Chinese steel production has expanded hugely. Over the past 25 years, output has grown more than 12-fold. By comparison, the EU's output fell by ... | China's steel industry - what's the problem? | 176 | Chinese steel production has expanded hugely. Over the past 25 years, output has grown more than 12-fold. By comparison, the EU's output fell by 12% while the US's remained largely flat. The drive behind that stellar increase has been China's double-digit economic growth over the past decades. That led to ever more dom... | 0.795909 | 0.80401 | 0.799959 |
2148_0 | The people charged with protecting the world's economy are meeting in Washington this week. The decisions made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) affect people around the world. But what is the IMF, why is it important, and what criticism does it face? The IMF is an international organisation with 189 member coun... | What is the IMF? | 259 | The IMF is an international organisation with 189 member countries. They work together to try to stabilise the global economy. Any country can apply to join, as long as it meets a few requirements. These include providing information about its economy and paying in a sum of money called a quota subscription. The richer... | 0.787098 | 0.811734 | 0.799416 |
4726_0 | The company behind infidelity dating website Ashley Madison has denied that hardly any women used the service. Its rebuttal followed an article by Gizmodo which suggested that only around 12,000 of the site's 36 million members were real women. Gizmodo had analysed the data stolen from Ashley Madison by hackers called ... | Did Ashley Madison use fake profiles? | 469 | There are suggestions from the leaked data, which included thousands of chief executive Noel Biderman's emails, that Ashley Madison did deploy fake profiles. One email written to Mr Biderman described a contractor building profiles, known as angels or engagers, "en masse". It even suggested staff were getting "writer's... | 0.74917 | 0.840667 | 0.794918 |
7952_0 | Russian state TV is working on its own version of Chernobyl, a series based on the worst nuclear accident in history. The NTV drama will deviate from the acclaimed HBO series - and from historical reality - by claiming that the CIA was involved in the disaster. Director Aleksey Muradov claims it will show "what really ... | What did Russia think of HBO's Chernobyl? | 1,288 | There has been plenty of praise in Russia for the authenticity of Chernobyl. Izvestia newspaper declared it a more 'realistic' portrayal of the era than most Russian films manage. There's also admiration of how the series conveys the heroism of ordinary people. But there's been a crescendo of criticism, too. One column... | 0.778854 | 0.799858 | 0.789356 |
7519_0 | President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from the World Trade Organization (WTO), claiming it treats his country unfairly. "If they don't shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO," Mr Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg News. The WTO was established to provide rules for global trade and resolve dis... | What's Trump's issue with the WTO? | 1,413 | The US president has been sounding off about unfair trade since even before he became president. Mr Trump said on Thursday that the 1994 agreement to establish the WTO "was the single worst trade deal ever made". The US has been embroiled in a tit-for-tat trade battle on several fronts in recent months. The one creatin... | 0.795501 | 0.782593 | 0.789047 |
7567_0 | President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to block food importers' requests for foreign currency in a bid to boost local agriculture in Africa's most populous country. It is a continuation of a policy that the president began after coming to office in 2015, when he banned the use of foreign ex... | How much is Nigeria spending on importing food? | 688 | According to data from Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the amount of money the country has been spending on importing food and drink increased from 2015 to 2017, dipped in 2018 and if the trend from the first quarter of this year continues, the bill will go up again for this year. In 2015, Nigeria spent ... | 0.750523 | 0.826218 | 0.78837 |
3327_1 | The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh recorded 36,749 lightning strikes in just a 13-hour period on Tuesday, officials say. The number is unusually high and the result of "extreme weather patterns", according to the state disaster management authority. Nine people, including a nine-year-old girl, have been killed... | How common are lightning deaths in India? | 1,631 | At least 2,000 people have died in lightning strikes in India every year since 2005, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. In June 2016, 93 people were killed and more than 20 injured by lightning strikes in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. India's death toll from lightning st... | 0.787401 | 0.781011 | 0.784206 |
1097_0 | President Trump has told Americans to "get their shots" as measles cases spread across the country. "The vaccinations are so important," he told reporters outside the White House. Nearly 700 cases have been reported across 22 states amid a resurgence of the highly infectious disease, the US Centers for Disease Control ... | What has Trump said about vaccines? | 1,374 | Mr Trump's latest comments contrast markedly from his previous public statements about vaccinations. During a Republican primary debate in 2015, he suggested vaccines were responsible for what he called an "epidemic" of autism. He said he was in favour of vaccines, but wanted "smaller doses over a longer period of time... | 0.739858 | 0.82596 | 0.782909 |
1405_0 | Shares in Spotify have started trading in the New York, valuing the music streaming service at about $26bn. In an unconventional move, the firm has not issued new shares, with those held by its private investors being sold. The flotation marks a turning point for Spotify, which is the global market leader but is yet to... | Why is Spotify listing its shares? | 958 | The firm made a commitment to investors who backed it as the company was growing, that they would be given the chance to cash in their investment. So Spotify had to list its shares sooner or later. But it could also herald a new phase for the firm. Being publicly traded will put pressure on the management, and could pr... | 0.760346 | 0.804665 | 0.782505 |
9799_0 | Outgoing German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has been confirmed as the next president of the European Commission, replacing Jean-Claude Juncker. She will now form a new team of commissioners and they will start their new term on 1 November, a day after the UK is due to leave the EU. But what is the European Co... | What does the European Commission do? | 422 | Its job is to develop laws for member states and enforce them. Based in Brussels, it's the only EU body that can draft laws. It employs more than 32,000 staff in total and its running costs this year are EUR3.6bn. Once its proposals have the approval of the European Parliament and a council of 28 ministers from the EU ... | 0.787998 | 0.769404 | 0.778701 |
679_0 | North Korean state media had strong words for Joe Biden - the former US vice-president and current presidential candidate - on Wednesday. Mr Biden had "gone reckless and senseless, seized by ambition for power", a commentary on the news website KCNA said. He was "an imbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human bein... | Why is North Korea criticising Joe Biden? | 1,630 | Wednesday's KCNA report accused Mr Biden of "rhetoric slandering the supreme leadership of the DPRK" during a recent election campaign. This appeared to refer to Mr Biden's rally in Philadelphia on Saturday, where he criticised Mr Trump for working with "tyrants like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Kim Jong-un".... | 0.779563 | 0.774526 | 0.777044 |
4253_0 | Guatemala's Fuego volcano erupted at about noon local time (18:00 GMT) on Sunday. It is one of Central America's most active volcanoes but Sunday's eruption caused more fatalities than any of those previously recorded at Fuego. At least 69 people are known to have died. Most of them lived in villages on the slopes of t... | What type of volcano is Fuego? | 424 | Fuego is a stratovolcano or composite volcano. Its steep, conical shape, which is typical of this type of volcano, can be seen from the capital, Guatemala City, 44km (27 miles) south-west of Fuego's summit. Fuego sits on the Ring of Fire, a horse-shoe-shaped string of volcanoes, earthquake sites and tectonic plates aro... | 0.752837 | 0.799834 | 0.776335 |
298_1 | The internal Labour row over anti-Semitism has dragged on for nearly three years. Here's a guide to what's been going on. Jewish people have faced prejudice and hostility for centuries. During World War II, six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis or their accomplices in what is known as the Holocaust. Modern-day an... | What is the Labour anti-Semitism row about? | 2,796 | Anti-Semitism was generally not regarded as a big problem in the Labour Party before Jeremy Corbyn's election as leader in September 2015. Since then, things have changed, with Mr Corbyn and other figures on the left setting a new political direction. There has been an influx of new members, many of whom are vocal crit... | 0.836887 | 0.71554 | 0.776214 |
390_0 | Heavy seasonal rains are a regular feature of life in Nigeria and towns close to the country's main rivers are particularly vulnerable. This year floods have killed almost 200 people with many thousands displaced. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) say these figures are likely to rise as the full impact be... | Are Nigeria's rains causing the floods? | 2,303 | Heavy rainfall has certainly increased the likelihood of rivers overflowing and flash floods. And there's evidence to suggest increasing rainfall over time. Data from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency from 1981-2017, analysing 13 affected locations, reveals a rising trend in annual rainfall, which it says is likely to... | 0.782008 | 0.769737 | 0.775873 |
8522_1 | Former FBI director James Comey's evidence to the Senate Intelligence Committee has been keenly awaited by the US public. Mr Comey, who was sacked by Donald Trump on 9 May, gave some clues to the inner workings of the Trump administration and its relationship with the intelligence services. But despite the forensic exa... | Are there tapes of Mr Comey's conversations with Mr Trump? | 1,054 | Three days after Mr Comey was fired, the president tweeted that the former FBI director should hope there were no tapes of their conversations. Mr Comey has since expressed the hope that there are tapes and at the hearing he urged the president to release all their conversations if tapes exist. "I'm good with it," he s... | 0.742958 | 0.808493 | 0.775726 |
7584_0 | MPs have rejected Prime Minister Boris Johnson's attempt to hold an early general election on 12 December. But why does the PM want an election and what are his remaining options? The next general election is not due until 2022, but the PM wants an early election to try to restore the Conservative Party's majority. Whi... | Why does Boris Johnson want an early election? | 180 | The next general election is not due until 2022, but the PM wants an early election to try to restore the Conservative Party's majority. While an early election carries risks, Mr Johnson hopes to win more seats in the House of Commons, to make it easier to pass a Brexit deal. | 0.793617 | 0.755712 | 0.774664 |
4848_0 | Feeling a little lost on Brexit? Never really got your head around it in the first place? Let us walk you through it. Brexit is short for "British exit" - and is the word people use to talk about the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union (EU). The EU is a political and economic union of 28 countries tha... | What is Brexit? | 118 | Brexit is short for "British exit" - and is the word people use to talk about the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union (EU). | 0.735541 | 0.81249 | 0.774016 |
9319_0 | Saudi Arabia and Iran are at loggerheads. They have long been rivals, but it's all recently got a lot more tense. Here's why. Saudi Arabia and Iran - two powerful neighbours - are locked in a fierce struggle for regional dominance. The decades-old feud between them is exacerbated by religious differences. They each fol... | How is the Saudi-Iranian rivalry being played out? | 4,360 | This is in many ways a regional equivalent of the Cold War, which pitted the US against the Soviet Union in a tense military standoff for many years. Iran and Saudi Arabia are not directly fighting but they are engaged in a variety of proxy wars (conflicts where they support rival sides and militias) around the region.... | 0.802515 | 0.744455 | 0.773485 |
3220_0 | India is preparing to send a robotic spacecraft into orbit around Mars - a first for the country. Yogita Limaye from the BBC's India Business Report spoke to K Radhakrishnan, chair of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) - the country's space agency - about his hopes for the mission. A: Essentially in this Mar... | Q: What is the objective of India's Mars mission? | 294 | A: Essentially in this Mars mission, which we are planning, the prime objective is to demonstrate India's capability to capture the Martian orbit and then to conduct a few meaningful scientific experiments. | 0.684731 | 0.859782 | 0.772257 |
9369_0 | Brunei has introduced a tough Islamic penal code, known as Sharia law, sparking concern from the UN and the US. The BBC explains how the Sharia system works. Sharia law is Islam's legal system. It is derived from both the Koran, Islam's central text, and fatwas - the rulings of Islamic scholars. Sharia literally means ... | What is Sharia? | 158 | Sharia law is Islam's legal system. It is derived from both the Koran, Islam's central text, and fatwas - the rulings of Islamic scholars. Sharia literally means "the clear, well-trodden path to water". Sharia law acts as a code for living that all Muslims should adhere to, including prayers, fasting and donations to t... | 0.697411 | 0.845403 | 0.771407 |
9352_0 | Reality check verdict: The US president has the power to both dismiss and appoint the director of the FBI. US President Donald Trump sacked James Comey, director of the FBI, on 9 May, with immediate effect. Mr Trump said he had acted on the recommendation of senior figures at the Justice Department, criticising Mr Come... | How can a president simply fire the head of the FBI? | 683 | According to federal law, the president has authority to both appoint and dismiss the director of the FBI, as well as other senior officials in the Justice Department, but the nominee has to pass hearings and be confirmed by a simple majority vote in the Senate. Only one FBI director has been removed by the President i... | 0.779497 | 0.762989 | 0.771243 |
5084_0 | The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping route in the Gulf region, is at the centre of rising tensions. Two Royal Navy warships are now in the Gulf, to protect ships sailing under the British flag. So, what is the waterway and why does it matter? Despite its small size, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most im... | What is the Strait of Hormuz? | 246 | Despite its small size, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most important shipping routes. It is about 96 miles long and only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, with shipping lanes in each direction just two miles wide. Bounded to the north by Iran and to the south by Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE),... | 0.756965 | 0.78268 | 0.769822 |
6053_0 | More than 1,000 firefighters are battling a forest fire in Portugal that has claimed the lives at least 64 people and injured more than 130 since Saturday. Many of the victims died after becoming trapped in cars as they tried to flee. Planes have been used to drop water over the Pedrogao Grande region. Civil protection... | Why are Portugal's wildfires so deadly? | 1,756 | Wildfires are an annual menace in Portugal. More broke out there between 1993 and 2013 than in Spain, France, Italy or Greece, the European Environment Agency reported last year, despite the country's relatively small geographical size. Given that, was this year's tragedy preventable? Could Portugal have done anything ... | 0.758066 | 0.780607 | 0.769337 |
3082_0 | The US is cutting hundreds of troops in Africa as it focuses on countering threats from Russia and China. Around 700 counter-terrorism troops will be removed over the next few years, the Department of Defense said. About 7,200 US soldiers are currently based in dozens of African countries including Nigeria and Libya. T... | Why is the US cutting troops in Africa? | 1,479 | By Tomi Oladipo, BBC Africa Security Correspondent The announcement of cuts has been coming for some time. In January, the US Defence Secretary James Mattis unveiled a new strategy indicating a shift away from terrorism and towards America's standing when compared to Russia and China. While the cuts begin in Africa, th... | 0.769008 | 0.769 | 0.769004 |
3690_0 | Introducing the SNP's general election pledges in an independent Scotland could lead to more austerity, according to an economic research group. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the SNP's manifesto set out plans to increase spending while also setting out a list of tax-cutting measures. It said the SNP had n... | What does the IFS says about the SNP manifesto? | 1,047 | In his analysis of the SNP's manifesto, IFS associate director David Phillips said it differed from those of the other three major parties because it was not "a plan of action for five years of governing the UK". Writing in the Scotsman newspaper, Mr Phillips argued that the document was instead about "starting the pro... | 0.791757 | 0.745303 | 0.76853 |
5096_0 | Social issues like gay marriage and abortion have taken centre stage in the lead up to Canada's autumn election, as the Liberal Party tries to convince voters that the Conservatives want to backtrack on LGBTQ and abortion rights. Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party has fired an early salvo against Conservative party leader ... | What were Mr Scheer's views on same sex marriage? | 1,688 | In 2005, about a year after Mr Scheer was elected to parliament, he voted against same-sex marriage. He was one of 133 members, from all parties, who voted against the law, which passed with 158 votes. "There is nothing more important to society than the raising of children, for its very survival requires it. Homosexua... | 0.717919 | 0.81847 | 0.768195 |
449_0 | South Korea and the US have this week launched the world's first commercial 5G services, promising a new wave of capabilities for smartphone users. Samsung said its Galaxy S10 5G device will offer speeds up to 20 times faster than current phones as it began selling the handsets on Friday. Countries are racing to build ... | What will 5G enable? | 1,361 | Initially, 5G will bring higher-quality streaming and the ability to livestream to bigger audiences - a better experience for people watching live sports or cloud gaming. Ovum's Mr Barton said down the track it will enable more augmented reality capabilities, such as better mapping apps and shopping experiences. 5G wil... | 0.762505 | 0.773812 | 0.768158 |
End of preview. Expand in Data Studio
README.md exists but content is empty.
- Downloads last month
- 9